The paintbrush is the staple tool for all painters, whether professional or amateur. A typical paintbrush comprises a brush head extending straight out from the end of a straight handle.
The prior art includes variations on the typical paintbrush in which the construction of the paintbrush head and/or handle are altered to assist a painter in reaching difficult places such as corners, nooks and crannies or to simply make the painting chore more easily performed. As a result, various paintbrush designs exist in which the paintbrush head is attached to a handle in a fixed orientation.
Herbowi (Canadian Patent No. 2,111,262), discloses a paintbrush having an adjustable head. The head can be tilted through various angles about an axis which extends generally perpendicularly to the handle. The positioning is limited to a two-dimensional plane. A typical paintbrush head cannot be easily converted into this design. The same comments apply to numerous other adjustable paintbrushes, such as the paintbrushes disclosed in Smith (Canadian Patent No. 1,220,448); Perabo (German Patent No. DE 198 37 988 A1); and, Piombino (EP 0 541 138 A1).
Despite the many designs for adjustable paintbrushes which have been proposed and the long history of paintbrush development, the inventors have determined that there remains a need for a paintbrush which is more widely adjustable than existing paintbrushes and is still cost effective to produce.